Thanks! I can't get into Jane Austen either, although I sort of feel like I "should" like her... So perhaps Elizabeth Gaskell is just the thing. Lots of titles I haven't read on this list, so I will check them out!
I have to confess, though, that I read Palace Walk a couple years ago, and I kind of hated it. I know so many people who love it, and I really thought I would love it too, so I suspect the problem may have been with me rather than the book... I tell people that I didn't find myself caring about any of the characters and they look at me like I'm crazy. Maybe I am!
Ha, well, with Palace Walk I can see how plenty of people wouldn't like it. I'd read a lot of Mahfouz before that one though, so in large part I was just into his writing style. I can't really say that I cared that much about the characters in Palace Walk either, but I love the writing and I loved learning more about regular, daily life in a place and time that I was unfamiliar with (plus with that one it fed my constant WWI interest).
Honestly I think it takes a lot for me to really care about a fictional character. I care deeply about the real people I read about in non-fiction and can get quite fannish, but with fiction it's not really a strong point for me. Now, fiction with no even remotely likeable main characters (grumble grumble Blithedale Romance grumble grumble) is something I hate reading, but I really don't need to care about the characters to enjoy a book.
From the writers I've recently discovered I really liked Knut Hamsun (Hunger and Growth of the Soil), Muriel Barbery's L'élégance du hérisson, John Gardner's Grendel, Daniel Keye's Flowers for Algernon, and Elizabeth Knox's The Vintner's Luck.
So here's a weird one for you, offered in total seriousness: "The Long Secret" and "Sport" by Louise Fitzhugh. Yes, Louise Fitzhugh, who I'm willing to bet you, the avid reader, read growing up. She wrote "Harriet the Spy!" I recently read all three of these books and they blew me away, especially "The Long Secret." Outside of Beatrix Potter, who is a completely different sort, I cannot think of a better children's writer, period. And Fitzhugh is just a brilliant writer, period. I would read anything of hers and don't really consider it children's lit, although it is that as well, of course. Does it fit your specs? Well, in a way. Fitzhugh was gay and though this doesn't feature obviously in any of the stories, you do get a different feel for some of the characters knowing it. I actually ordered a book about her and am excited to read it because there's so little about her on the web and she strikes me as such a strong, interesting character.
I have to confess: I was as much as reader when I was a kid as I am now, yet somehow I skipped over Harriet the Spy. Everyone I know who grew up as a bookish kid loved it, and to this day I've never read it. So this is a great recommendation, and I will check out Louise Fitzhugh.
Oh, good. You are in for a treat. To be honest, I think Harriet the Spy is better read as an adult. That is, it's a good book for children, but there is much you can appreciate only as an adult. I'll be interested to hear what you think.
wide sargasso sea by jean rhys or really anything by jean rhys comes to mind. maybe george saunders' new one, tenth of december since you seem to enjoy short story writers? as for queer characters, i recently read alan hollinghurst's the line of beauty and thought it was quite alright, although it's famous enough of a book that i feel like you've probably read it already - he feels like a good forster inheritor, though. also, to almost everything on your 'things i like' list: call me by your name by andre aciman. pretentious but AMAZING and definitely one of my fiction faves. pascale quiviger's the perfect circle is another that comes to mind, although it's also uber pretentious - the style of prose makes me think of something you might like, though (it has a really slow and beautiful cadence).
This is a bit of a belated reply, but thanks for the recs! I love George Saunders to bits and definitely want to read his latest. I've read a few of Hollinghurst's, but not The Line of Beauty, which is kind of weird because that's his big Booker-winner, so you're right that I should check that out. And I've never read anything at all by Jean Rhys or Pascale Quiviger... Thanks!
i couldn't get into the line of beauty until about half-way in, because you don't see the stakes until then, but it's quite a powerful book once you reach the end, i think.
jean rhys' prose is gorgeous - sparse and yet brimming with sensuousness. as for pascale quiviger, she's not particularly well-known at all - she's a french-canadian writer, i think - and her prose is almost poetry.
Hello. I found your new lj friends post and it prompted me to check out your journal. First, an introduction. I'm Kate. I read and write, but most of my journal is a psycho-spiritual battle ground, rather than a lace to calmly talk about reading or writing. But I've been on LJ for 11 years, so it's served different functions and could change again. Now, onto important matters. If you don't mind the plotless non-linear as long as it poignant and draped in stunningly beautiful prose, consider reading Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels - The book is as potent as poetry. And if you haven't picked it up already (since above you were talking about reading German literature), Death in Venice by Thomas Mann is as powerful as it is short.
Let me know if you're interested in "friending." Be well.
Hi! Thanks for dropping by, and for the Anne Michaels recommendation--I just read a little about the book, and it sounds like something I would really like. I've read "Death in Venice," and you're right: it's both powerful and beautiful.
I'd be happy to be Lj-friends. I'll head over and add you now. If you're interested, you can learn a bit more about me in my intro post.
Ohh I just know you are gonna love Anne Michaels. :). I'm at work now and will come back to your writing, which I am keen to check out. Meanwhile, here is a nice concise intro from me as well. Yay!
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I have to confess, though, that I read Palace Walk a couple years ago, and I kind of hated it. I know so many people who love it, and I really thought I would love it too, so I suspect the problem may have been with me rather than the book... I tell people that I didn't find myself caring about any of the characters and they look at me like I'm crazy. Maybe I am!
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Honestly I think it takes a lot for me to really care about a fictional character. I care deeply about the real people I read about in non-fiction and can get quite fannish, but with fiction it's not really a strong point for me. Now, fiction with no even remotely likeable main characters (grumble grumble Blithedale Romance grumble grumble) is something I hate reading, but I really don't need to care about the characters to enjoy a book.
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From the writers I've recently discovered I really liked Knut Hamsun (Hunger and Growth of the Soil), Muriel Barbery's L'élégance du hérisson, John Gardner's Grendel, Daniel Keye's Flowers for Algernon, and Elizabeth Knox's The Vintner's Luck.
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Seriously. The Long Secret.
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jean rhys' prose is gorgeous - sparse and yet brimming with sensuousness. as for pascale quiviger, she's not particularly well-known at all - she's a french-canadian writer, i think - and her prose is almost poetry.
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Let me know if you're interested in "friending." Be well.
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I'd be happy to be Lj-friends. I'll head over and add you now. If you're interested, you can learn a bit more about me in my intro post.
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:)
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